bluebruce

Ahh, so there's a long term plan to make us all stab our eyes out. Then it won't matter what style of play we use. Ingenious!

Same. We both thought the same thing watching that. Only 17 until October according to rovers.co.uk @Parsonblue what do you make of him in general, presumably having seen a lot more than that little clip?

We've picked next season's now? Is that a joke?

Really hope not. Rather take Adam. Think we should be loaning Smallwood out too before we need any additions though.

Could we get a better 3rd choice CM than we currently have? Yes. Is it a priority? Absolutely not. It's the last position on the pitch that currently needs help. If we get rid of some of CMs 3 through 10 (yes, it's 10 potentially now) then I'm all for it. Otherwise it's a criminal misallocation of resources.

This is fantastic! Really stoked for this! I wonder if the footballer they're following is Fergus Suter, the first professional, given the mention of moving towns and a focus on Darwen FC too. Unofficially he was probably the first professional when he was at Darwen, though it was illegal at the time and he claimed to be a stonemason. He then moved to Rovers and officially became the first professional when it was allowed. I've always been fascinated by the early history of both clubs. As a would-be writer, I've considered whether there was a good story to be told about Darwen's early history, particularly the incredible comeback against Old Etonians in the FA Cup (semi final I think it was) where they came from 5-0 down to draw 5-5 and earn a replay. If I remember rightly they didn't score til about 15 minutes from time! Has to be the greatest comeback ever, against the team who were the top dogs at the time. Back then the replays had to take place at the same ground, so Darwen had to travel down to London for it. At the time that cost a hell of a lot for a football club, and it nearly bankrupted them. Locals gathered funds for them, only for them to draw the replay and have to do it again! No extra time or penalties back then. Think the replay was 0-0. Another whip round was done, they went down and got pasted this time. Excuse my memory if it errs, but I believe it was a big factor in replays taking place at the other ground. Not sure when extra time etc came in. Lot of football's early history at Darwen, it was a shame they got wound up over such a small bill (a few grand I think it was?) and weren't saved by Rovers or local fundraising. Rovers have helped save other clubs in the region before, like Accy. In the AFC format it's basically the same, but technically that history isn't theirs now.

He's not wrong though. Watch back all the goals we conceded and look for what Williams is doing during them. I lost count of the times he was partly or entirely at fault. Poor positioning was a common theme. Did surprisingly well at CB.

Out of curiosity, why are you sure he's neutral?

Why on earth do you think we need another central midfielder? We need that like we need a bigger stadium.

No pretty sure he meant we are still on Plan A. The post he was quoting described Foderingham as Plan B, which Bbrovers has also said previously (and that we might sign both).

Who is the number 11? Looked a bit handy, quite quick. Lovely, lovely overhead kick goal. If that happened in the first team in a competitive match it'd be our goal of the season.

Do you know how likely the City lad signing is?

Lad should be bigger than Blackpool Tower by the time we play Charlton. By the time the season is over, he'll be bigger than the Burj Kalifah.

"Oh ee oh, we've got Richie Smallwood, oh ee oh, he's the king of the City of Manchester Stadium" For this reason and this reason only, that won't happen.

Good question. I can't seem to find an answer from googling. Transfermarket seems to think he belongs to us, but I doubt they follow players at his level too closely. He is still on the Rovers Academy squad profiles. The bio there makes no mention of it being a loan, although that was definitely reported at the time. Maybe it got quietly tied up behind the scenes a while back?

Had a look for a bit more info on the lad. He had 2 assists last season. He seems to be on a £25,000 a week contract at City. Fortunately they have so much money they don't seem to care about subsidising wages, hopefully very heavily in this case. I suppose if we do look to sign him in future, this may be a bit of a stumbling block, though Armstrong and Gallagher have both taken pay cuts to come here after enjoying themselves on loan. He's nearing 22 (September) and has a single England U-19 cap (as well as more appearances at the younger levels). His Champions League appearances were a full 90 minutes against Celtic in the group stages in 2016, a full 90 against Shakhtar in the group stages in 2017, a 1-minute cameo against Basel in the last 16 and 30 minutes against Steaua in the qualifiers in 2016. Last season was his first loan. This article 10 days ago questioned whether he might be ready to properly join the city squad as a backup/rotation player.

Aye I was thinking myself earlier today that the next couple of days might be what TM hopes for (he didn't say it'd definitely be that soon, and pointed out things can change), but that I wouldn't be surprised if it takes until Monday or Tuesday to wrap up. We never seem to get business done in the time frames we think we will. The sooner the better, so they can gel quicker, but I won't be massively concerned as long as it happens before Charlton.

Adarabioyo, CB who can play RB, linked from City. Sounds close.

Who wouldn't though, to be fair. Outside of Premiership players of course.

In a general sense, yeh I agree. But this isn't an untested lad in this league, like our own defenders currently are (beyond a couple of cameos). He played 36 games for a play-off side. This has to be seen as a positive move for the short-term, whilst Magloire etc get up to speed through further training and cameos. It's not like we currently have tons of experienced CBs, he should still get a few chances. Maybe he'll take them. If he hadn't played 36 games for a play-off side last season I'd agree with you. He's also a little older, and clearly further in his development than Magloire. He's even played 4 Champions League games, think Downing is the only person in our whole squad who can beat that? Yeh I know they'll have been against lesser lights most likely, but it's still good experience. He covers two positions too, which is exactly what I hoped for. Link to the article, as I don't think it's been posted yet here: https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/rovers/news/17780476.rovers-eye-move-manchester-city-youngster-adarabioyo/

I'm not sure why you seem to think this is actually a possibility mate. I know we can't always put full faith in what TM says, but the fact he has said we might even get two keepers and he expects to make announcements in the next couple of days...it's very hard to imagine we won't have a goalie in before Charlton. I'm 99.9% sure. Don't worry on that front - just worry about how good they'll be.

Don't know the kid, but his 'CV' sounds solid enough to me. Height, played 36 times for a play off side, and operates at RB or CB. Shame it's only a loan (though as ever we'll see if that ends up permanent one day, we're very into signing former loanees these days), and he's a little young, but if we could also permanently sign a decent, experienced head (someone in the 25-30 age range would probably be ideal) at centre half, I'd be fairly happy with our defensive reinforcements. Someone who is primarily a centre half, but can also do a decent job at LB, like a (much) better Williams, would cover us nicely in all areas. As well as a goalie or two of course. Then you could shut the window as far as I'm concerned, unless we sell someone.

Vince Grella, running? Dubious.

Guys, please grow up and stop the petty bickering.

Sure, that logic applies to Adam. But Butterfield as well? Very excessive, we have a huge surplus of CMs already. Agreed, our central midfield only has room for one up and coming youth player on the fringes. I was already wondering which of Davenport and Buckley was going to fill that role of periodically coming off the bench trying to make their mark. That said, I don't know how much Buckley will benefit from a few cameos. A large part of me says he'd be best out on loan til January.